Predicted to go far
by Zym
Summary: He hadn't just graduated first though. Out of the eleven classmates that had managed to pass the final exams he'd been dominant. The highest scores that anyone had received since the tests first were created. He was predicted to go far. This is Liam's story. Rated T for language and possibly some violence/sexual content coming up.


**Author's note: This is a pokemon story. However, it does not take place in, nor does it abide by the rules of, the universes that the games, manga or anime take place in. ****I guess it could be considered to be somewhat of a mix between all of them, with some exceptions. ****Some things, I have added, some things, I have removed, and some things, I have altered.**

**In the future I might be including a list of the changes I've made and an explanation to why I've made them on my profile page. Some of the changes however, are still open to change (no pun intended). The main objective of them is to make the pokemon world more realistic and thereby, at least in my opinion a lot more interesting.**

** Anyway, this is the first story I've published and one of the first things I've written for my own enjoyment. I hope you'll enjoy it.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own pokemon or any of its affiliated companies. (Do you even have to write this or do people just do it to look cool?)**

******Chapter one: Pal Forest**

Location: Sinnoh - Between Sandgem Town and Route 19 (Sinnoh).

Time: 11:43 (WoC) PM - Thursday - June 2nd.

It was dark out. The moon was showing, but it and most of the nightly stars were shadowed by the massive clouds in the sky. It was raining, heavy. Not pouring but enough that most people in the area would choose to stay inside, and most of the wild pokemon would be taking cover under whatever shelter they could find. It wasn't particularly cold though, around 15 degrees Celsius. Although, it never really got that cold in this part of Sinnoh, especially not in June.

The landscape of the area was lush. To the east the thick deciduous Pal Forest stretched for miles before transmitting to the valleys of the national park and finally the western slopes of the Coronet mountain chain. To the west, man-made fields of legumes intertwined with the natural fields of wildflowers and the leafy forests of the area. Following that, the little town of Twinleaf emerged, small, quaint houses sprouted up like buds around the famous Twinleaf River that had given the town its name. Past the little settlement nothing could be seen but the massive waters of Lake Verity, largest of it's three siblings. It was one of the most beautiful places in the entire Sinnoh region, and the rain was needed. It had been a dry spring. A long road wound its way next to the forests of route 19 and connected the little peaceful town of Sandgem to the vast sea that began at the routes southern end. Stretching miles and miles, many horizons and for longer than the most clear-sighted pidgeot could hope to see.

Not much could be heard over the rain hitting the pavement of the road and the gusts of wind coming in from the sea. An occasional roar of thunder sometimes broke the continuity. Everything else was silent, still. All living creatures seemed to be stagnant this night. All, except for a boy who was jogging down the path. His feet making sounds as they made contact with the puddles of water that were being created in the creaks and cracks of the uneven road. The boy was tall. Around 185 cm (6ft) and was athletically built. Not big, but not skinny, muscular, athletic. He was wearing a grey hoodie that covered his hair and face, black training sweats and black and blue sneakers. He was heading north, towards the town. The boy was keeping a steady pace and didn't seem out of breath. Judging by the state of his soaking wet clothes and the dirty sneakers he'd been at it for a while though.

Suddenly he stopped. He had seen something. The boy turned to the right, gazing into the forest that was separated from the road by a mere two meters. He remained still for a good thirty seconds, his eyes focusing on the dark shadows in between the trees. Nothing. The boy relaxed slightly and let out a sigh, "I swear I saw something," he mumbled to himself as he removed the grey hood and looked up into the sky. Letting the rain bounce off his face and run down his now exposed hair, clearing it from the sweat that had started to build up during the run.

With the hood gone you could see the boy's facial features. It was a good looking boy. He had medium length dirty blonde hair, blue eyes and well defined cheekbones, some would call it traditional Scandinavian features except for the boy's skin tone that was almost brown. Tanned from the hours spent outside. Even though most people would probably consider the boy handsome, the week old stubble on his chin, coupled with a few scars and dents made it clear that this wasn't some pretty boy who cared more about the way he looked than anything else. The majority of Sandgem town's population would recognize this face. It belonged to Liam Black.

He'd been the talk of the town recently. Graduating at the top of his class in the Pokemon School in Jubilife city a couple of weeks ago. The first one from Sandgem to do so for several years. He hadn't just graduated first though. Out of the eleven classmates that had managed to pass the final exams he'd been dominant. An almost perfect score on the theoretical exams and the highest score on the practical tests that anyone had gotten since the tests were created. He was predicted to go far.

This begged the question though. What was Liam Black doing out jogging in the middle of the night, the day before the starter ceremony no less?

It was actually pretty obvious when you thought about it. Tomorrow was possibly the most important day of the boy's life. It was the day he'd receive his own starter pokemon and the day that would determine the story of the man, and trainer that he would become. No less than that, it was the day that he'd been waiting for and looking forward to, all of his soon 17 year long life. You can imagine he'd have some troubles sleeping.

Most nights Liam would be able to relax by reading one of his favorite magazines or books for a few minutes. Not tonight though. Too much on his mind. He'd been lying restless in his bed for over an hour and a half before he finally decided to go for a run. Nothing like physical exhaustion to clear your head. It seemed to work as well, his head was still a jungle, but at least he was starting to get fatigued.

Just as he put his hood back on and started running he saw something again. This time, clearly. About fifty meters into the forest he saw what looked like two big flamethrowers connecting with each other, bouncing off one another and pillaring upwards into the sky. He was frozen for a second. Torn between common sense and curiosity. That going into the forest at night by yourself was a bad idea was pretty much lesson one in pokemon school. Unlike the real lesson one which told you to not go into the tall grass, this had real dangers. In the grasses around Jubilife City you might run into a timid little bidoof or a starly. If you were unlucky you might encounter a frenzied and hungry rattata. In the forest however, there were real dangers.

Finally curiosity got the better of him. He grabbed a sharp stick at the edge of the woods and headed inside. Liam snuck silently between the trees for about fifty meters before he finally found the source of the flames. A big arcanine, clearly male from the size of its mane and a growlithe were engaged in a battle. The two pokemon were incredible, arcanine had always been one of his favorite species but the growlithe was what really caught his attention. The arcanine was big for its species and while the growlithe obviously was smaller it wasn't by that much. The bigger dog measured about 220 centimeters from head to paw and the growlithe was maybe 130 centimeters tall, about twice the size of the average growlithe. The growlithe was a male as well and he looked young. This seemed almost crazy considering the sheer size of the hound. Liam was sure though, a distinct indicator of the age of an individual in the growlithe - arcanine evolutionary line was the brightness of the lighter parts of their fur. It's tail and the tufts of hair it had on its chest and head. This growlithe's hair was still almost white. Standing out from the arcanine's mane that was a deep creamy color, bordering on beige. Arcanine was clearly much its opponents senior.

After figuring this out in a matter of seconds as he stood there mesmerized Liam came to his senses. He went to hide beneath a big willow tree at the edge of the clearing where the battle was taking place. This spot gave him perfect vision of the fight while the hanging branches kept his figure hidden. The battle looked to be pretty even so far. The arcanine had seniority and brute strength, but the growlithe seemed to have more guts and surprisingly enough, speed. Arcanine were notoriously fast pokemon. When at the max speed they were generally considered to be in the top three fastest species of pokemon that didn't fly. Competing with the jolteon and weavile species.

While growlithe's were quick, they normally didn't even come close to its evolution in terms of speed. This arcanine wasn't even slow, probably quicker than most of its species. It was just the growlithe that was incredibly fast.

The boy watched the two canines go at it for a while, each one of them getting their fair share of blows, as bites, flamethrowers (lucky for the forest it was raining) and wide variations of tackle maneuvers was exchanged. He was sure he even saw Growlithe use wild charge once. A very tricky move for it to master.

While Growlithe was looking confident and on even terms with its elder at first, the longer the fight progressed the more tired you could see it become. Arcanine simply had much more experience with battling than the young dog had. Its stamina was clearly superior as well. The fight kept going but the growlithe looked to be losing. It got clunkier in its attacks and slower in its dodges. Arcanine landed blow after blow and Growlithe was starting to look really ruffed up. Most of its body was starting to bruise and it was bleeding from wounds in its back, one of its hind legs and its right ear.

After managing to doge one of the arcanine's body slam attacks the growlithe finally saw an opening. It charged up a flame wheel and almost scored a direct hit to the arcanine's exposed side. The big dog managed to dodge last second by jumping into the air, but the move was made while Arcanine was very off-balance and it ended up landing very awkwardly on its hind legs and for a second it exposed its vulnerable underside. Growlithe who was starting to panic from the exhaust it was feeling and the many wounds it had suffered instantly realized this was his only shot. He went for a bite to the throat, whether it was aimed for it or not was unclear. Even with its last efforts it simply didn't have the energy to give any real focus to the attack. He drew blood, but the attack only glanced Arcanine and barely did any damage. The big canine was furious however, going for the throat was a serious deal. Fights over territory and females were bound to happen in between packs and casualties were sometimes unavoidable. That didn't mean it always had to lead to that, at least in between the same species.

The arcanine roared and charged up a full powered flare blitz, the strongest, riskiest but most devastating attacks it had in its arsenal. It headed straight towards the still growlithe who was still panting and hadn't recovered from its last attempt. With a sound that could probably be heard from a kilometer away the two pokemon collided and a cry of pain escaped from the growlithe as it flew over twenty meters and rammed right into a big oak tree, with enough momentum to topple the tree over, roots and everything. Growlithe slumped to the ground, immobile and unconscious. Arcanine roared in triumph for a few seconds, celebrating its victory. Ultimately it turned around. The big dog started to slowly walk to the opposite side of the clearing of which Liam was hiding. The boy was taken aback by what he had just witnessed. He hadn't moved since he got there, just watched. As he took his eyes of the immobile growlithe and shifted it to the arcanine he could just now make the outlines of other arcanines and growlithes in the opposite trees. They must've been standing there the whole time, just like him, observing. Liam looked around the clearing, trying to spot another pack but could find none. It looked to be a fight within a pack, rather than between two. Over what, the boy wondered. Packs usually stayed together and didn't fight each other. Sure, there could be squabbles over food but nothing like this. The growlithe was proud he thought to himself. Maybe it was challenging the leader for the spot as alpha, he briefly considered.

Liam's eyes had only left the fighting growlithe for a few seconds but when he looked back he was shocked. The pokemon was regaining its stance again, slowly getting up on its four paws and weakly barking a challenge once more to the arcanine. The large canine looked surprised, the growlithe was no threat anymore, however, he was still furious from the earlier attempt at its throat. The arcanine didn't waste any time. With what must've been an extremespeed attack he connected with his opponent once more and tackled him into the ground. Silent whimpers escaped the smaller hound but once again Growlithe tried to get up. It didn't seem to be in its system to simply give up. This was extremely admirable Liam thought. Right now he just wanted to beg it to stay down though, or it would get itself killed. Right as the thought flew through his mind the boy saw Arcanine starting to charge up another flare blitz attack. Liam realized he had to do something. Growlithe could very likely die from this attack and if what he suspected was true, even if he survived the blow he most likely wouldn't make it. When he lost this fight he would get no help from the rest of the pack. If you challenged your alpha and lost, you either died or became an outcast. A loner, having to fend for yourself.

Before Liam even knew what he was doing he yelled, "Stop!" He couldn't help himself. He knew it was dumb, he shouldn't get involved. Dealings like this were extremely dangerous for humans to get involved in, especially amongst such proud pokemon as arcanines. He felt something for this growlithe though. He'd never seen such a will in a pokemon before. It tugged at the fighter part in him. He recognized part of himself in the puppy pokemon.

Liam had always had talent. Ever since he was a kid he had always won almost all of the games they'd had at school, especially the ones involving pokemon. Whenever he'd lost or even been close to losing he'd get really upset. Safe to say he wasn't the best of losers. The boy had always managed to channel this into something good though. He'd worked harder than anyone else. He remembered once, in second grade they'd had a new kid come to class. He was fat, loud and rude, but strong as a tauros. After class all the kids had gone out to play like they always did. The fatty joined them of course. One of their games was a pretend pokeball throwing contest. They went somewhere and placed out different objects at different distances and threw tennis balls at them. Different objects were different pokemon and depending on what kind of pokemon it was, where you hit it and how far away it was you received points. It came down to him and fatty. Most of the pokemon were caught and Liam was leading. All the pokemon at short or mid distance were already captured and only the long range ones were left. Basically, Liam wasn't strong enough to reach the ones furthest away and fatty won. Liam didn't go to school for three days after that incident. He wasn't home moping though. He practiced, all day until he could throw that far, came back to class and beat fatty. That was how Liam worked, and he felt like this growlithe was much like him in that aspect.

The short trip down memory lane was quickly interrupted as he remembered where he was. Luckily enough, the arcanine was astonished by the scream and stopped right in its tracks. The big hound scanned the area, trying to see where the sound came from. After a second it spotted the boy who had now stepped out into the clearing.

Many thoughts rushed in Liam's head as his gaze met arcanine's. After what felt like forever but probably only was a second or two, he spoke. "You've won, let the growlithe be. You're still alpha, so take your pack and leave. If you continue now, you're nothing but a killer. He's defenseless, and it's only a pup for god's sake. He challenged you, you won, just let the little guy be." It might have been more convincing if ths particular growlithe hadn't been so unusually big but it was Liam's best shot. Risky as hell to talk down to an allready angry arcanine, but his one chance to stop the alpha. Arcanine were very regal and proud creatures and were some of the most honorable pokemon out there. If anything would work, it would be to appeal to the pokemon's honor. He knew wild pokemon didn't always understand humans but this arcanine would. Their species was intelligent and had a natural affinity for human speech. One of the major reasons they were popular with the police force, considering their rarity.

Time seemed to stand still as his eyes were locked with arcanine's. Finally the big hound did something. Not quite what Liam had hoped, but better than roasting him alive. It simply turned its back to Liam and moved towards the almost unconscious growlithe who was still lying on the ground.

Just before Liam was about to speak up again he realized that Arcanine wasn't attacking. It simply stopped next to Growlithe and roared something to the smaller dog in its own language. Most likely a threat about ever being caught near his pack again. Without even glancing at Liam again the big arcanine joined its pack and ushered them deeper into the forest.

One of the larger bitches stopped for a second though, and looked sadly back towards the growlithe. Her eyes met Liam's and with a quick look that he could only imagine was gratitude she barked something and turned around and followed her pack.

Liam stood there for a second, shocked before he remembered the reason why he had appeared in front of the pack in the first place. He hurried to the side of the wounded dog who was now lying motionless, whimpering in pain. Liam gave the hurt growlithe a quick physical and realized the damage it had taken might've been even worse than he first thought. Up close like this he could see every bruise and burn the pokemon had and there were many.

The best thing would've been if he had a pokeball. Then he could've just caught the growlithe and easily brought it back to town and the pokemon center. He didn't have any though. Not until tomorrow.. "Fuck!" He said to himself. "All right, I'll have to do something temporary." The puppy wasn't bleeding too badly on the outside and its inner heat would at least keep it warm and prevent it from going into shock. What worried Liam was the burns, even though Growlithe was a fire type, it had suffered some really bad ones; there was one on its chest that was especially bad. The worst dangers however, were the internal injuries it had received. Most of its ribs were broken and it had taken a heavy blow to the head. "I'll be right back," the boy said as he slid a hand across Growlithe's chest. It didn't have enough energy to make any sign of recognition of what he said except for a quiet moan. The adrenaline that was surging through its body during the fight was fading and Growlithe was starting to really feel the pain of its wounds.

Liam got up and headed to the edge of the clearing. He had taken courses in pokemon medicine and knew what could be found in the wild and where to find it. It was one of the easier courses he had taken and right now he was glad he had. Not everything useful could be found in the outskirts of Pal Forest but there should be herb leafs and oran berries, as well as rawst berries for the burns. After a few minutes of searching in the surrounding areas he had gotten what he needed.

As soon as Liam reached Growlithe he handed the dog an oran berry. "Here, eat this, it'll give you strength." He knew fire pokemon normally roasted their berries before eating them but there was no time for that now. Growlithe protested at first. Maybe it didn't trust humans, but after convincing it, the dog finally swallowed the berry. The boy gave him another one and then started doing work on the rawst berries. They were hard, but after a second of massaging them he could squeeze them enough to get their valuable juice out. He did the same thing with the rest of the oran berries. After mixing the berry juices with some herb leafs he started rubbing it onto the worst of Growlithe's wounds.

The dog whimpered in pain as the stinging effect of the rawst berry juices started taking effect. "I know, I know, it stings, but it'll help you," Liam said in a calming voice. He kept this up for a few minutes but after a while of no improvement in the pokemon's pain or general state he realized it wouldn't be enough. Its internal damage was simply too great, and he had no proper way of treating that here. He had to get Growlithe to a pokemon center.

He didn't own a poketch or a pokedex so calling someone for help wasn't an option. He'd have to carry the massive dog. It was only about two kilometers to Sandgem Town he estimated. "This is gonna hurt like hell Growlithe, but it's the only way if you wanna live. Ok?" Liam looked into the dog's eyes and got what he thought was a look of acceptance from the pained pokemon.

This was easier said than done. Growlithe was huge. it probably weighed over 60 kg (130 pounds). Liam was stronger than he looked though. That wouldn't be too big of an issue. The problem was its size. There was no easy way of carrying it, especially if he had to take into consideration not making the pokemon's injuries worse than they already were, and if possible opt for a way to make the trip as painless as possible for the poor dog. He finally managed to get the growlithe's front legs over his own shoulders. Grabbing the hound's front paws and pulling them down to his own waist. Liam straightened out with a grunt, carrying the growlithe in a way that almost looked like he was giving it a piggy back ride. It felt weird, but it worked.

He started to walk, since Growlithe was behind him there was really no sure way of telling him how much pain the pokemon was in. Growlithe was starting to get so tired that he barely had enought energy to whimper in pain anymore. Liam started slow, picking up the pace as he went. After a few moans from his passenger in the start that he got when he tried to reposition Growlithe's position the journey was fairly uneventful.

After walking for about 15 minutes he finally reached the outskirts of Sandgem Town. The pokemon center was located at the other side of town though and since no one was awake he walked for a couple more minutes before finally spotting the much welcomed red roof down the street. Liam pushed forward and eventually stumbled through the automatic doors. He immediately called out to the blonde nurse on call who was sitting behind the desk reading a magazine. She looked up and gasped at what she saw. "Oh my god, what happened?" She burst out while making her way over to the boy and the growlithe on his back. "Fight, wild, no pokeballs," Liam grunted. "Just help him." The nurse understood. "Ok, I can't carry him so can you bring him to the back room and I'll go call for the doctor," she said and Liam quickly followed. After putting Growlithe down on one of the cots in the treatment room and making sure that it was alive and hadn't sustained anymore damage during the walk over here he went back out. "Make sure he'll be ok. That is one special growlithe," Liam said to the nurse and as on cue the nurse quickly replied," Of course, I'll do everything in my power to help your growlithe. Why don't you go and rest in the waiting room, this might be a while." Liam didn't even bother correcting her on whose pokemon it was and just nodded and went through the door that led to the waiting area. He looked up to at the clock hanging over the door and noticed it was at five past one, AM. Holy shit he thought to himself. All this had happened in less than an hour and a half. After placing himself in one of the couches, exhausted, he thought one last thing before instantly falling asleep. I guess my adventure started one day early.

Explanation of words:

Route 19 (Sinnoh): I find it really silly to call the routes in Sinnoh 201 etc. just because the games were created in that order. Therefore I will simply remove the 2 when naming the routes.

WoC: West of Coronet, Sinnoh is a big place, I figured I'd split it into two different time zones like most large regions, Coronet seemed like a good breaking point.

**Author's note: I hope you enjoyed it. Review and stuff if you want to give me any advice, criticism or just a friendly pat on the back. Anything's appreciated.**

******If you haven't checked out "The Game of Champions" yet, you should, I have n****o affiliation to the guy who wrote it but it was partly his story that made me decide to go through with writing my own. Also, he is a far better writer than me.**


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